


One Kiss, Whole Lot of Questions

by Malvolia



Series: Southern Evolution [1]
Category: X-Men Evolution
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:20:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26706634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malvolia/pseuds/Malvolia
Summary: After Rogue takes him—only him, from the whole group—out with a kiss, Gambit is left with more than a few unanswered questions. (Set in the latter half of season 3.)
Relationships: Pre-Gambit/Rogue
Series: Southern Evolution [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1943548
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	1. Bring Your Lip Balm

“I don’t get who could’ve taken us all out, and why we don’t remember any of it,” said Pyro, for about the fifth time.

Gambit sighed and rubbed the massive crick in his neck he’d had ever since he woke up against one of the crates in the warehouse. Colossus was muttering something in Russian behind him; he suspected it was meant for the resident Australian. Even under duress, Piotr played his frustration closer to his chest than most of the rest of the group.

Sabretooth, on the other hand, rumbled a growl in Pyro’s direction that would probably make him shut up for as long as it took for Magneto to find something in the surveillance footage. Their leader had been the last to wake up, and after a brief discussion revealed none of them recalled why they were all napping in such inconvenient positions, they’d gathered in the security office as soon as possible.

“There!” Gambit said, pointing, as a large owl shifted before his eyes into one of the X-Men.

“Rogue,” Magneto pronounced flatly.

The next sixty seconds showed Rogue methodically take out Colossus, Sabretooth, and Pyro, all of whom threw Gambit dirty looks when he appeared onscreen clapping. He simply shrugged in response. He was impressed enough watching it happen in a grainy screen image; he could easily imagine showing his appreciation after witnessing it in person.

He started counting the seconds, idly wondering how many it had taken her to get him of the way, and pleased that he seemed to have avoided her longer. But he lost count completely when…

“ _What_ ?!” Pyro yelped. “How come he gets to be _kissed_ unconscious?”

Magneto waved an impatient hand, and Pyro fell into irritated grumbling under his breath. Gambit caught a few impolite words about “Don Juan powers.”

Except he hadn’t been looking at her long enough to charm her in the second before he saw she was right in front of him. So why _was_ he kissed unconscious? And why was he the one whose form she assumed when she set her ambush for Magneto?

Gambit whistled quietly as he watched Rogue lay out the big boss with the open-palmed touch she’d used on almost everyone else. Maybe he had charmed her during their conversation? He was the only one she’d been seen to speak to during the attack.

She stalked nearly out of frame, pausing to turn and survey the room. Her eyes glowed briefly, then she took flight, shrinking into an owl once more and exiting through the same window she had entered.

“Mesmero,” said Magneto. “She has his powers, and used them to wipe our memories. She must be under his control.”

Gambit found himself relieved. All the finesse the girl exhibited in the fighting, it was nice to think it wasn’t her fault she overlooked taking out the cameras to cover her tracks. His respect for this Mesmero fellow took a hit, though.

“We need to warn Xavier,” Magneto was saying.

Sabretooth let out what could only be described as a low roar. “Warn the X-Men? Let them look out for themselves.”

“Don’t be a fool,” snapped Magneto. “This affects all of us. Mesmero is trying to unleash Apocalypse. We need to stop Rogue from assisting him.”

“Why don’t you send Gambit to stop her?” Pyro asked. “Bring your lip balm, Romeo.”

Gambit smirked. “Sign me up, boss,” he volunteered.

To annoy Pyro.

Mostly.


	2. Too Crowded for Questions

If he had known signing up for tracking Rogue would mean babysitting Wolverine and Sabretooth, Gambit might have kept his mouth shut. Keeping those two pitbulls focused on the mission instead of on tearing each other’s throats out or having yet another sniff-fest was not proving to be easy.

By the time Sabretooth told Wolverine he was still tempted to throw him off the mountain, as Mesmero had suggested, Gambit was done. “Do me a favor,” he proposed. “Why don’t you BOTH jump off the mountain?”

They trudged along in silence, the younger man trying his best to hold his position between the two old enemies. When Wolverine attempted to cross in front of him, he held his staff across the path. “Not if you can’t play nice.”

“Nobody’s playing anything,” Wolverine grunted.

Gambit huffed a laugh. “Could’ve fooled me. A person might think a missing X-Man wasn’t such a big deal to the Institute.”

Wolverine snarled. “I’m the one who volunteered for this mission.”

“Way I remember it, you got sent by Xavier, just like Magneto sent Sabretooth.”

“Sabretooth and _you_ , kid.”

Gambit shrugged. “I know there’s no love lost between you and the big cat. Thought there might be some between you and Rogue, is all.”

“What’re you, a therapist?”

Gambit didn’t respond, and for a while all conversation ended and he had nothing to think about but the snow, and the mountain, and the girl.

“Sure I care about Rogue,” Wolverine began, as though they hadn’t been walking without speaking for the past twenty minutes. “Why do _you_ care that I care?”

“I’ll care about anything if it’ll stop the two of you bickering,” he lied, but by the suspicious look on Wolverine’s face, he suspected he had answered a few seconds too slowly.

“Here!” yelled Sabretooth, and Gambit had never been so grateful to hear the old furball’s voice. “I can hear something behind this rock face.”

Wolverine got closer. “Me, too.” He unsheathed his claws.

“Back it up, Grumpy,” said Gambit, grinning with amusement when both men rounded on him angrily. “Think I can explode it faster than you can dig it.”

The explosion brought Mesmero out to meet them, and the next few minutes were a blur of fighting. Sabretooth actually proved himself useful by knocking their assailant off Wolverine. Then the screaming started.

Gambit rounded toward the corridor it came from, but Wolverine waved him off, pointing at the heavily tattooed mutant crumbled on the ground. “Stay with this one!”

Considering what Rogue had done to Magneto’s finest within the past week, Gambit didn’t like Wolverine’s chances alone, though his chances with the two of them along weren’t so great, either. Not that it mattered, once Apocalypse came out of that same corridor and leveled the whole field with one clap of his hands.

Gambit shook his head groggily in the aftermath, wondering what their next move would be. How could you fight someone like that? What would happen if Rogue touched Apocalypse—would she be that powerful? He had a feeling she’d be up for trying, if it meant her people would be safe.

He remembered the screaming. She might not have survived Apocalypse the first time. He rolled to his hands and knees, groaning at the effort, and pushed himself to his feet with the help of his staff. After a moment to steady himself, he headed for the corridor, where he met Wolverine just inside the door.

“Apocalypse?”

“Gone. Rogue?” Gambit returned, nodding to the girl in Wolverine’s arms.

“I’m okay,” she said, her voice weak. “You can put me down now.”

Wolverine looked at Gambit and held Rogue a little tighter.

“Put me down,” she said, exasperated. “I’m okay.” Wolverine eased her to her feet, though he was ready to catch her by an arm when her knees buckled.

Gambit caught the other arm. Rogue looked at him with confused recognition.

It would’ve been rude to let a girl fall. He almost said as much, but found he didn’t have much easy-going flippancy left in him today.

“Don’t look okay,” he said instead. “You should sit down, _chérie_.”

Wolverine glared at him, but he nodded to Xavier. “Look like your professor could use your help, if you’re up to carrying people. He can fill you in on what happened up here.”

“I can guess,” said Wolverine, surveying the prone and recovering mutants scattered across the floor of the chamber. But he shifted Rogue’s weight to the other man. “You try anything funny, and…”

“Not much in the mood for anything funny just now,” Gambit said harshly. “I got her. Go help your other people.”

Gambit walked Rogue over to the inside wall and helped lower her to a seated position. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

He had so many questions. Had she absorbed Apocalypse? Looked more like he’d absorbed her, though if that were true the fact that she had even survived was impressive. Was she still under Mesmero’s control? Could she remember…anything?

“Rogue…” he whispered. Her eyelids began to flutter open.

“Rogue!” Shadowcat came running unsteadily over. Gambit quickly stood and stepped back. When Rogue’s eyes opened, they rested on her friend.

“Kitty.”

“We were so worried!”

Gambit returned to Magneto’s group, thankful that Pyro was only beginning to regain consciousness. He still had questions, and more were filling his head even as he left the girl’s side, but he could wait for the answers.

Could be a little watching was in order.


End file.
